The present invention relates to the attachment of a supply conduit to the inlet of a valve and particularly relates to solenoid operated valves employed for controlling the flow of water where the body or main structure of the valve is formed of non-metallic material to provide electrical isolation of the solenoid from the conduit to protect the user from the hazards of electrical shock.
Solenoid operated valves are commonly employed in household appliances such as, for example, clothes washing machines, dishwashers and ice makers for refrigerators. Appliance water valves of this type are therefore typically connected to a household power supply either 240 Volt or 117 Volts AC which is a high enough voltage to create a hazardous condition for the appliance user in the event of contact occurs with the electrical solenoid operator and the water supply. In order to reduce the hazards of electrical shock, typical appliance water inlet valves have the body thereof molded from plastic material and the coil typically encapsulated with plastic material for reducing the likelihood of occurrence of electrical shock.
Appliance water inlet valves are, in many installations, connected to a flexible conduit by either a threaded hose-type connection or by compression type tubing connection in the case of small diameter bendable or deformable metal tubing as the supply conduit.
In certain applications, as for example in refrigerator ice makers located in the refrigerator freezer compartment, it is desired to provide for assembly of a portion of the supply conduit internal to the refrigerator during the manufacture of the refrigerator in order that the user may make the waterline connection to the icemaker externally of the refrigerator cabinet. Such an arrangement must necessarily be accomplished in a manner which is simple and easy to install and which is relatively low in manufacturing costs to be competitive in high volume mass production of such household appliances.